Core Team. LOL What was his name? hehe Hiring out patchwork to 3rd world countries pretty much says "we have no core team". P5 is just ProPack with Plugins. Coreteam..that's a good one. Three years between versions and financial woes doesn't fund a "core" team...just a few contractors.

Sure Poser5 has a bad rep (a little undeserved since SR3 IMHO), but, so far, DS has mostly shown promises. I have opened it twice, then had twice my computer frozen. I'll quit there for the alpha. DAZ is not paying me enough to test their programs. I went to the DS forum and have been unimpressed by the results so far. There are certainly good features : openGL (if it can work on my NVidia card that is), light management, and... well that's all I see for the moment. But since it is just an alpha, there's no problem with this. There is ample time to improve. A little more annoying are those DS devouts that pester the forums with their caps locked "Ooohs" and "Aaaahs" about DS, how it will be this and that, how it will develop into the best 3D proggy ever, etc... Now I hope that DAZ is not paying these loonies to flood the forums with their superlative credos, because they really piss me off (and I'm not the only one I guess). These guys are starting a religion, or what ? Few people here have the nerve to complain against DAZ (because, sometimes, DAZ do make bad things). The worst we hear is "I love DAZ, I had a tiny little problem with them, but they are super great, don't flame me". And they are met by a volley of acusations ranging from "whinning" to "ingratitutde" (what gratitutde do we how to DAZ ? They sell things, we buy them, or not. Period). I even get the feeling that some pros here think "well, I won't speak my mind against DAZ because I might want to work for them one day". Censorship is in our mind. And this leads me to other speculations about the potential danger of DS. What is great at R'osity? Freebies, marketplace, and the occasional hack discovery (ERC, MAT poses, subdivide poses, etc...). Look at the DS files : how can they be opened ? Or hacked ? Who knows what there is inside ? So we'll need to buy plug-ins and tools and we'll be restricted to what DAZ sells. In these conditions, freebies will become fewer and more far between. We will even be restricted to what DAZ wants to sell : remember how they resisted making something available to use the V3 clothes on V2 ? I'm neither for nor against DAZ, but I think that the prospective of DS being the only program available in this price range is not a great one. So far, CL hasn't said anything on what was produced to use with their program because freebee makers and merchants were not a competition for them. What when they'll be in direct competition with DAZ who will make the proggy AND the contents ? Can you say monopoly ? (and, please, do not say "trust DAZ' good faith" : when it is money we talk about, you can trust in no one's good faith). Aaaaaah. Feel better now. End of rant mode. ;)

Good points compiler ... At least, with Poser (4 anyway) you can "play" with the files and "fix" things. (i.e., with a text editor) I like that. ;=]

Compiler. Daz wasn't resist making something available to use the V3 clothes on V2. If you mean the manniquin it was a copyright infringement. If not them I don't know what ya mean. I agree that if we were unable to hack, that would be bad. But as Narsil mentions, over 90% of the store in brokered content, not Daz content. Well now they are buying up content so well.. But the point is they don't want to alientate customers and brokers. If people want to get excited about something new, it is kinda sour to be that harsh on them. Personally I do find the alpha impressive next to Poser and I think what you saw was other people being excited too. Nothing wrong with that. :) I went to the Sahde site and all I saw was a few figures. I really only like the latest one. Where is all the other "content". Do we know they made that "in house". Was it contracted? My main concern with Daz ans Studio is they don't play with the toys the make except to render ad images. So until it allows for figure creation, they may remain a bit detatched from the user base. I always think it is funny that all these software companies think there are 10's of thousands of lightwave users and animators out there. I think the "home" market is where it is at.

Ratteler : for the price range what I meant was "low to mid level price", not lightwave/maya price. As for the price of DS, I thought only the "base" would be free ? (whatever there is finally in this base). Phoenixrising : Some of these people get overexcited about everything that DAZ makes. Call me sour if you wish. That makes a balance... :)

Hey compiler, Yer sour. ;=]

Hi Doc. Just checked in my english-french dictionnary what "sour" precisely meant. I would have called myself more "acid" than "sour".. I'll ask my wife what she thinks... ;) (PS : now I'm offline for 2 weeks and heading for the tropical sun. Wanna bet I will be "salted" when I'm back ?)

Have fun ... just go easy on the "salt." ;=]

A parting thought ... Maybe you should stick with "sour" ... You wouldn't want to get your acid kick ... What??? Oh, ok, I'll be nice. (coming Mother ..... somebody's always takin' the fun outta stuff)

compiler - you're starting to sound like a margarita! ;-) As for the "cult of D|S" does anyone remember the hoopla for P5? I seriously doubt CL paid all those people to hype it up (then tear it apart) so I seriously doubt DAZ did for D|S, either. Trust me, it's equal opportunity beserking. ;-)

Oh oh ......... NaySayGuy heard "equal opportunity" and his ears perked up. Now why didja hafta go an do that! ;=[